Lovesexy Tour

The Lovesexy Tour was a concert tour by American recording artist Prince in 1988–1989 in support of his platinum album, Lovesexy. The tour was his last outing in the 1980s.

Lovesexy Tour

Tour by Prince
Associated album	Lovesexy
Start date	July 8, 1988
End date	February 13, 1989
Legs	3
No. of shows	31 in Europe 38 in North America 8 in Asia 77 in total (87 scheduled)
Prince concert chronology

History

Although the tour was a huge success in terms of reviews and audience numbers (most shows were sellouts), it lost money due to the high production costs incurred with transportation, only breaking even by its final leg in Japan in early 1989. Prince used a number of elaborate props on the moving, multi-tiered stage such as a basketball hoop, a fountain, trellis fences and a full-scale replica of his Ford Thunderbird automobile.

Costume worn by Prince during the Lovesexy Tour

The two-hour show included most songs from the Lovesexy album, alongside well-known hits and rarer material. In usual Prince fashion, many shows saw the premiere of entirely new songs, particularly "Blues in C (If I Had a Harem)".

Thematically, the show was divided into two very distinct main acts with the themes of light and dark. Act One, which ran for an hour, consisted mainly of older material from Prince's earlier albums, often strung together into medley form to ease time constraints. The show often began with "Escape" before segueing into "Erotic City" and concluded with "Anna Stesia". Act Two consisted largely of songs from Lovesexy, plus classic hits such as "Kiss" and towards the end of the concert, "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", and "1999". The highlight of many shows was the piano medley in the second act, often featuring "When 2 R in Love", "Venus de Milo", "Starfish and Coffee", "Raspberry Beret", and "Condition of the Heart".

The band

• Prince – vocals, piano, guitar, whatever
• Miko Weaver – guitar and vocals
• Levi Seacer, Jr. – bass guitar and vocals
• Doctor Fink – keyboards and vocals
• Boni Boyer – keyboards, organ and vocals
• Sheila E. – drums, percussion and vocals
• Eric Leeds – saxophone
• Atlanta Bliss – trumpet
• Cat – dance arrangements and vocals

This post-Revolution line-up was the same that had supported the Sign ☮' the Times Tour. At the conclusion of the tour, the band was rearranged with the departures of Boni Boyer and Cat, along with Sheila E. New drummer Michael Bland was hired from Dr. Mambo's Combo from Minneapolis, Rosie Gaines took over keyboards and backup vocal duties, and a trio of dancers known as the Game Boyz were added. The horn section was dropped altogether.

Susannah Melvoin, Wendy and Lisa, George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Jill Jones, Tony Le Mans, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Patti LaBelle were guest performers at the Bloomington, Hampton, and Philadelphia concerts.

Set list

The following set list is from the July 16, 1988 show in Milan, Italy. It's not intended to represent all dates throughout the tour.

1. "Escape" (musical introduction)
2. "Erotic City" (contains elements of "Sex Shooter")
3. "Housequake"
4. "Slow Love"
5. "Adore"
6. "Delirious"
7. "Jack U Off" (contains elements of "Twelve")
8. "Sister" (contains reprise from "Adore")
9. "U Got the Look"
10. "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
11. "Head"
12. "When You Were Mine" (contains elements of "When You Were Mine")
13. "Little Red Corvette"
14. "Pop Life"
15. "Controversy"
16. "Dirty Mind"
17. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" (contains reprise from "Controversy")
18. "Bob George"
19. "Anna Stesia"
20. "Intermission" (musical interlude)
21. "Eye No"
22. "Alphabet St."
23. "Glam Slam"
24. "The Cross"
25. "I Wish U Heaven" (contains elements of "I Wish U Heaven (part 2)" and "God is Alive")
26. "Kiss"
27. "Dance On"
28. "When 2 R in Love"
29. "Let's Go Crazy"
30. "When Doves Cry" (contains elements of "La, La, La, He, He, Hee")
31. "Purple Rain"
32. "1999"

Encore

33. "Positivity"
34. "Lovesexy" (contains elements of "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night")

Tour dates

The September 9, 1988 Dortmund, Germany show was recorded and broadcast live via satellite across Europe and later released on VHS.

Date	City	Country	Venue	Tickets sold / Available	Revenue
Europe
July 8, 1988	Paris	France	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy	64,050/64,050	N/A
July 9, 1988
July 10, 1988
July 12, 1988
July 15, 1988	Milan	Italy	Palatrussardi	34,000/34,000
July 16, 1988
July 17, 1988
July 19, 1988
July 23, 1988	Antwerp	Belgium	Sportpaleis	18,500/18,500
July 25, 1988	London	England	Wembley Arena	N/A
July 26, 1988
July 28, 1988
July 29, 1988
August 1, 1988
August 2, 1988
August 3, 1988
August 5, 1988	Birmingham		NEC
August 6, 1988
August 10, 1988	Stockholm	Sweden	Isstadion	19,600/19,600
August 11, 1988
August 14, 1988	Oslo	Norway	Valle Hovin	30,125/30,125
August 17, 1988	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Feijenoord Stadion	97,809/97,809
August 18, 1988
August 19, 1988
August 21, 1988	Copenhagen	Denmark	Idrætsparken	N/A
August 27, 1988	Frankfurt	West Germany	Waldstadion
August 30, 1988	Hamburg		Wilhelm-Koch Stadion	45,970/45,970
August 31, 1988
September 3, 1988	Modena	Italy	Stadio Alberto Braglia	N/A
September 8, 1988	Dortmund	West Germany	Westfalenhallen	34,110/34,110
September 9, 1988
North America[1]
September 14, 1988	Bloomington	United States	Met Center	30,903 / 34,000	$474,345
September 15, 1988
September 17, 1988	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon	52,134/52,134	$895,134
September 18, 1988
September 19, 1988
September 22, 1988	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum	12,896 / 17,000
September 24, 1988	Charlotte		Charlotte Coliseum	16,000 / 23,780
September 27, 1988	Richmond		Richmond Coliseum	7,187 / 12,500	$132,580
September 30, 1988	Hartford		Hartford Civic Center	13,000 / 16,000
October 2, 1988	New York City		Madison Square Garden	38,440 / 38,440	$875,000
October 3, 1988
October 5, 1988	Toronto	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens	13,252 / 14,500	$314,578
October 8, 1988	Hampton	United States	Hampton Coliseum
October 10, 1988	Landover		Capital Centre	25,202 / 35,000	$630,050
October 11, 1988
October 13, 1988	Atlanta		The Omni	32,756 / 32,756
October 14, 1988
October 16, 1988	Greensboro		Greensboro Coliseum	9,869 / 14,073	$197,380
October 18, 1988	Philadelphia		The Spectrum	17,352 / 17,352	$372,307
October 20, 1988	Worcester		Worcester Centrum	N/A	N/A
October 21, 1988
October 22, 1988
October 24, 1988	Uniondale		Nassau Coliseum
October 28, 1988	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena	14,611 / 14,611	$321,446
October 30, 1988	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena	N/A	N/A
October 31, 1988
November 3, 1988	Denver		McNichols Arena	9,000 / 17,000
November 6, 1988	Los Angeles		Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena	N/A	N/A
November 7, 1988
November 10, 1988	Oakland		Oakland Coliseum Arena	26,886 / 26,886	$604,935
November 11, 1988
November 15, 1988	Seattle		Seattle Center Coliseum	12,363 / 14,100	$260,820
November 17, 1988	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum	12,072 / 13,000	$273,589
November 21, 1988	Ames	United States	Hilton Coliseum	10,009 / 13,000	$175,158
November 23, 1988	Memphis		Mid-South Coliseum
November 25, 1988	New Orleans		Kiefer Arena
November 27, 1988	Houston		The Summit
November 29, 1988	Dallas		Reunion Arena
Asia
February 1, 1989	Sendai	Japan	Sendai Gymnasium	N/A	N/A
February 4, 1989	Tokyo		Tokyo Dome
February 5, 1989
February 7, 1989	Nagoya		Rainbow Hall
February 8, 1989
February 10, 1989	Kitakyushu		Kitakyushu City Gymnasium
February 12, 1989	Osaka		Osaka-jō Hall
February 13, 1989

Filming

The second show in Dortmund was put on by the Dutch promoter, and the majority of the audience was from the Netherlands. The show was filmed by Dutch production company ID-TV, for later release on video, called Lovesexy Live.

References

1. Lovesexy Tour